4 Summer Fruit Lemonade Recipes

Friday

Aug 15, 2014 at 5:39 PM

One base lemonade recipe is dressed up with various summer fruit juices.

Fresh lemonade is at the crux of all that is lovely and wonderful about summer. It's simple, refreshing and undoubtedly tied to fond memories of youth. Infuse this favorite with summer's best fruits, and your nostalgic homespun joy will increase twofold.
We charged the lovely Amber Wilson of For the Love of the South with creating blackberry, peach, watermelon and strawberry fruit-infused lemonades from one classic recipe. In her following recipes, Amber encourages us to be creative, saying, "Add fresh herbs to these fruity lemonades. A sprig of oregano with the strawberry lemonade and a rosemary sprig with the blackberry lemonade lends a lovely herbaceous aroma to this classic summertime beverage. Mint goes great with watermelon, and thyme works well with peach lemonade."
[caption id="attachment_330666" align="aligncenter" width="493"] All photography by Amber Wilson[/caption]
4 Summer Fruit Lemonade Recipes
½ cup granulated sugar
3 ½ cups boiled water
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 or 4 lemons)
1/2 cup fruit puree (See options below)
Before juicing the lemons, rub the skin aggressively with ½ cup of granulated sugar. This will release the natural oils in the lemon skin and perfume the sugar for the simple syrup.
In a small bowl, combine ½ cup of recently boiled water with perfumed granulated sugar to create a simple syrup. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside.
Combine the remaining 3 cups of water, lemon juice and simple syrup in a pitcher. Stir. Place in the refrigerator and keep chilled until ready to serve.
While lemonade is chilling, assemble chosen fruit purée.
Add puree to lemonade and chill mixture longer if necessary. Pour over ice and serve with complementary herbs if desired—we recommend a sprig of rosemary in each glass.
For Watermelon Lemonade: Purée 1 cup of cubed, seedless watermelon in a food processor until liquefied. Strain, reserving the juice and discarding the pulp.
White Peach Lemonade
Purée 1 cup of white peaches with 1 tablespoon of water in a food processor until liquefied. Strain, reserving the juice and discarding the peach pulp.
Blackberry Lemonade
Purée 1 cup blackberries and 1 tablespoon water in a food processor until liquefied. Strain, reserving the juice and discarding the blackberry pulp.
Strawberry Lemonade
Purée 1 cup of strawberries with 1 tablespoon of water in a food processor until liquefied. Strain, reserving the juice and discarding the strawberry pulp.
Note: If hosting a party, we suggest making a double or triple batch of the base lemonade recipe and mixing up a couple different fruit purees (strawberry, peach, blackberry, watermelon, strawberry.) Keep these separate from the lemonade until serving. With this approach, guests can add as little or as much puree mixture as they please to their individual drinks—we suggest 1 1/2 ounces puree per drink. They can even mix two flavors together if they are feeling adventures.
For more on Lemonade...
This article originally appeared as on Relish